Good afternoon all! Parts are starting to roll off my printer so it seemed like a good time for an intro and the creation of my build log.
A little about me — During the day I work as a design engineer creating machines for a manufacturing company and spend the nights chasing around my growing family. I ended up full time remote and long distance from my employer so I’ve been craving the hands on building/testing aspect of the design process. Over the past 6 months or so I have been seriously entertaining the idea of building a CNC to scratch that itch and to provide me with the capability to make more things. I was originally settled on a PrintNC but could not justify the cost or additional complexity of that build. Thankfully I discovered Ryan’s amazing work with the Lowrider v4 and was instantly convinced that this was the right path forward. Long term I am hoping to refresh my manufacturing skills, make some killer toys for my son, and potentially start a little side gig with this machine.
Build Log: Lowrider v4 - 117
My original printer the OG Ender 3 has been collecting dust for about a year so I’ve officially retired it (mostly for speed reasons) and so I am now the happy owner of “the next Ender 3” an Elegoo Centauri Carbon. Its a wonderful machine and I have been paying my fair share of filament to relearn some lessons forgotten during my absence from the hobby. The PEI bed that comes standard has a smooth side for PLA with is a new thing for me. I had used the recommended bed temp of 30 C that was etched onto the PEI sheet but was getting some corner lift from my braces. My default fix was to add brims to everything, but I just realized that turning up the temp higher to 50 C resolves that. Unfortunately I’ll have to clean brims off of most of my accent parts but its a lesson I will happily learn. I am hoping to be finished with printing parts in the next week or two, the yz plates and core will be last on my list.
Now a little insight into my build theme. Growing up I was (and still am) enthralled by the storytelling and lore of the Halo Franchise, so this machine is being dubbed LR4 - 117 after Spartan 117 aka the Master Chief. I have thus done my best to apply a color scheme to my LR4 that matches his armor colors. Hoping to get some pictures uploaded soon.
Thanks for reading!